


you're the cream in my coffee

by aerialbots



Series: narrative causality [2]
Category: Arctic Monkeys, British Singers RPF, Hurts (UK Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Coffee Shops & Cafés, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-14
Updated: 2016-04-14
Packaged: 2018-06-02 05:55:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6553630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aerialbots/pseuds/aerialbots
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The course of true love never did run smooth, so it's a lucky thing that whipped cream is so slippery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you're the cream in my coffee

"Oh my God", Alex said, oddly strangled, freezing halfway through the door and nearly making Miles brain himself on the doorframe. "We have to go now."

Miles' eyebrows shot up, a stern look that really did not suit him glinting in his eyes. "Don’t tell me you’re getting cold feet."

"I-- no, but-- _he_ wasn't supposed to be here", Alex explained, still a little strained as struggled to hide from sight behind the awning.

It took only a glance to the counter for it to click for Miles.

He started laughing hard enough to wake the dead.

"Shut _up_ ", Alex hissed, a hand flying up to drag Miles away and out of the shop like the cold claws of death -- or at least the cold claws of a steadily blushing and rather embarrassed best friend. "Shut up, do you think this is funny?!"

"God, no, I think it's _hilarious_ ", Miles laughed, grinning like a shark, because he was an _arsehole_. "C'mon, what better sign of your being soulmates than randomly encountering the object of your affections?"

"The object of my affections uses so much hair gel he _sparkles_ under fluorescent lighting", Alex complained, dragging away his hand to look beseechingly at Miles, every inch the awkward turtle in his jeans and band t-shirt and windswept hair. “I thought-- he said he didn’t work until three on Thursdays, so--”

Miles’ eyes were all but dancing, though he bumped his shoulder against Alex’s in a show of comfort. “I did tell you to dress up.”

”He wasn’t supposed to _see_ me”, Alex insisted, as though that changed anything about the presence of the cheerfully oblivious barista on the other side of the shop's walls. He shoved his left hand deep into his pocket, fingers fussing over the little envelope’s even tinier bright red bow, but leant against Miles’ side. “I was going to go in, ask his friend to give the ticket to him--”

“Like the big, fluffy-haired chicken that you are, and then you’d get married and have a bunch of tiny babies with high cheekbones and very dramatic eyebrows. I’m aware, dear.”

Alex _scowled_. “Like you haven’t been as bad about your little ‘friends’ as I am with mine.”

“Oh, _yours_ now, is he?”, Miles smirked, though it turned into something gentler -- amused still, but also... approving, oddly enough -- as he glanced through the window. “Well, at least _he_ seems to be buying it, if the looks he’s throwing our way are anything to go by.” Then he added, “That, or you’re actually right and your hair has put him off from smiling ever again.”

Alex frowned, looked to the window -- and was promptly treated to the sight of Theo’s fumbling as he was caught staring, his kicked-puppy look hidden as he turned away to fuss over the espresso machine, which even from there was rather obviously not even turned on. “...oh.”

“Quite”, Miles grinned, nudging Alex off him and back into the shop with a push of his shoulder. “Now go explain to him the only pants you want in on are his, before that sad look of his scares off the rest of the clientele.”

 

He didn’t get to tell that to Theo -- for one, it was appalling and nowhere near anything Alex would ever say by himself, and for another, there was still the queue to deal with before any explanations, declarations or invitations could be made.The queue was very, very long. Alex spent the twenty and a handful of minutes it took for it to be his turn watching Theo from under his lashes, finding it a little harder to be subtle when Theo hadn’t been so just a few minutes ago.

The thing was -- he knew Theo liked him, the man scratched cutesy doodles and terrible pick-up lines on every cup of coffee Alex ever ordered, and the thing outside had to have been an indicator of some interest, but -- he knew nearly nothing about Alex, really. Theo knew how Alex looked when he was dressed properly and on his way to work, and that he always asked for a lid for his coffee because he liked whipped cream with it but was a little embarrassed by it, and knew his schedule, more or less, thanks to the rather telling frequency with which Alex visited the shop, but... what if he didn’t like Alex once he got to know him for real?

As for the man himself, he didn’t respond to Alex’s staring, where any other time he would’ve been the one catching Alex’s eye to give him a ridiculous wink, or a smile. He was rather all hands today, in fact, Alex noticed, which was both a little impressive and a lot alarming, considering he worked with so many glass pitchers and boiling-hot coffee paraphernalia and--

“Hello, and welcome to-- _fuck_ , ow”, Theo squeaked as Alex finally stepped up to the counter, fumbling not to shove an espresso pitcher to the ground with his flailing, the point where the back of his arm had touched the machine growing a dark, angry red. “Which is to say -- welcome to Exile, not fuck, sorry, um, you’ll be taking your usual, no?”

Alex blinked, eyes going from Theo’s burn to his slightly flushed face. “I -- yes, but, are you okay? That looks--”

“It’s good! Quite fine and dandy, doesn’t hurt one bit, I’ll have to try that again sometime”, Theo assured him, cutting off Alex’s fussing with a nervous smile that was -- just too sweet, really, not to be contagious.

“I’d think that over if I were you”, Alex said, feeling the corners of his mouth curling up almost against his will. “But I’ll take your word for it.”

“Thank you, kind sir”, Theo said, now smiling more naturally, though it fell away rather quickly as he glanced at the tables behind Alex, that unhappy look back into his eyes. “And um, I guess your boyfriend will be wanting something too...”

Alex facepalmed, just a bit, elbow resting on the counter as he attempted to hide from the utter _nonsense_ that seemed to follow him when it came to both Miles and Theo. “He’s _not_ my boyfriend.”

Tilting his head to meet Alex’s one uncovered eye, Theo gave him a look so hopeful that somewhere in the world, someone must’ve started belting out ‘Can You Hear The People Sing?’ for no apparent reason. “So… no coffee?”

Alex’s hand dropped. “ _No_ , he can buy his own coffee, will you please just--?” He fumbled for the envelope in his pocket, thrust it towards Theo like a five-year-old with a handful of crushed dandelions, his ears going hot as Theo took it with a bemused look. “There’s a concert in two weeks and I want you to come with me, do you, um, would you like to…?”

Theo grinned. “Do you like extra whipped cream in your latte?”

“Oh, smooth”, muttered Adam, the other barista, as he passed behind his friend with a tray of cinnamon and apple muffins.

Alex resisted the urge to bury his face in his hands again, smiled back instead. “If that’s a yes, then I definitely do.”

“Will you two finish _flirting_ already so I can get some caffeine?!”, complained someone in the queue, seconds before a loud thwack made everyone wince sympathetically. “ _Ow_ \-- but, babe--”

“ _Hush,_  Ronan, they’re having a moment.”

“Hear that?”, Theo whispered, leaning over the counter to waggle his eyebrows at Alex. “We’re having a moment.”

Alex laughed. “Just-- go do your thing already, I’ll come back when the queue’s cleared.”

“No rest for the wicked”, Theo replied, aiming for solemn but falling quite off the mark, what with the bright smile threatening to break across his face.

“Shoo”, Alex said, deciding maturity was overrated and booping Theo’s nose, if only for the startled laugh that followed. “The sooner you’re done, the sooner I can introduce you to my best friend, who is most definitely not my boyfriend.”

“Oh”, Theo said, going faintly pink under the pleased look on his face. “In that case, maybe I will allow him to get coffee as well, then.”

 

Miles does get coffee, though he complains about blatant favouritism getting Alex extra whipped cream until Theo promises him crumbled oreos in his frappe next time they come by.

Alex just leans against Theo’s shoulder, and smiles into his heart-covered cup.


End file.
